Cracker (1993-6; 2007) was one of the standout television series of the 1990s, reinvigorating the television crime drama and winning both critical plaudits and ratings success. In Fitz, its flawed, self-destructive, arrogant but brilliant criminal psychologist hero, the series created one of the decade's most iconic characters, in the process turning Robbie Coltrane from a respected comic performer into an award-winning actor and a genuine star.
Cracker played freely with the conventions of the detective thriller, focusing less on the 'who' of crime than the 'why'. As such it followed a Catholic preoccupation with deep motive and moral responsibility shared by Fitz and his creator Jimmy McGovern, the first and most dominant of the series' three writers. Through three series and two specials, Cracker explored the causes and consequences of crime, while never losing sight of the moral choices made by its perpetrators. At the same time the series exposed the inherent dangers of a police force in pursuit not of justice but of 'results'.
Mark Duguid's illuminating study of Cracker traces the series' origins and development in the context of early 1990s television and places it in the contemporary social and political landscape. Duguid explores the series' distinctive moral focus, paying particular attention to Cracker's concerns with justice and the impact of bereavement and grief, most notably in McGovern's impassioned engagement with the devastation caused by the Hillsborough disaster and its aftermath. Combining detailed textual analysis with insights drawn from interviews with McGovern and producer Gub Neal, Duguid reveals how one of the angriest, toughest series of its time is also, paradoxically, one of the most compassionate.
Mark Duguid is a Senoir Curator of the BFI National Archive, and is the editor of, and a major contributor to BFI Screenonline, an online research and educational resource devoted to the history of film and television in Britain. He has contributed to Sight & Sound magazine and to the Encyclopedia of Television (2004).
'Duguid's illuminating analysis of the programme also contains insights provided by interviews carried out with McGovern and fans of the show will find a great deal to enjoy here.' - The Crack Magazine
'Diguid does a splendid job of helping to re-establish Cracker at the centre of the television cannon...Such astute analysis is a welcome contribution to the BFI's TV Classics series.' - Sight & Sound
Introduction
1. The Who, the How and the Why
2. Fitz is a Four-Letter Word
3. Understanding and Condemning
4. Grief is Delicious
5. Faith of Our Fathers
6. Life After Death
MARK DUGUID is Editor and a major contributor to BFI Screenonline, an online research and educational resource devoted to the history of film and television in Britain. He has also contributed to Sight & Sound magazine and the Encyclopedia of Television.
Personal Statement
As an undergraduate, I studied Social and Cultural Studies, specialising in Psychology and Film, at Sheffield Hallam University, and had recently begun a module on TV Detective Fictions at the time Cracker began. The series naturally struck a chord for its combination of radical critique of the detective archetype and rich psychological detail. I subsequently wrote entries on Cracker for both Screenonline and The International Encyclopedia of Television (Newcombe (ed), 2004); I also wrote Screenonline's biography of Robbie Coltrane (see Annex for copies of all of these). My undergraduate dissertation, which was a decisive factor in my receiving a First Class Honours degree, was on representations of mental illness in cinema, and although I dedicated my further academic career to the study of film and television (I studied for an MA in Film and Television at Birkbeck College, under Laura Mulvey), I have not lost my interest in psychology.
I have edited Screenonline (www.screenonline.org.uk) since its inception in early 2003, helping to build what is now widely recognised as an extremely valuable resource, praised for the intelligence of its analysis and the quality and accessibility of its writing.
I have personally written around 140,000 words for the site, covering well over 100 films and television programmes. My specialisms have included British Hitchcock, Powell and Pressburger, Ealing Studios, TV satire and conspiracy dramas and the Armchair Theatre strand. Latterly, I have begun to focus more determinedly on television, and have recently been researching a collection on banned and/or politically controversial documentary.
Description
Cracker (1993-6; 2007) was one of the standout television series of the 1990s, reinvigorating the television crime drama and winning both critical plaudits and ratings success. In Fitz, its flawed, self-destructive, arrogant but brilliant criminal psychologist hero, the series created one of the decade's most iconic characters, in the process turning Robbie Coltrane from a respected comic performer into an award-winning actor and a genuine star.
Cracker played freely with the conventions of the detective thriller, focusing less on the 'who' of crime than the 'why'. As such it followed a Catholic preoccupation with deep motive and moral responsibility shared by Fitz and his creator Jimmy McGovern, the first and most dominant of the series' three writers. Through three series and two specials, Cracker explored the causes and consequences of crime, while never losing sight of the moral choices made by its perpetrators. At the same time the series exposed the inherent dangers of a police force in pursuit not of justice but of 'results'.
Mark Duguid's illuminating study of Cracker traces the series' origins and development in the context of early 1990s television and places it in the contemporary social and political landscape. Duguid explores the series' distinctive moral focus, paying particular attention to Cracker's concerns with justice and the impact of bereavement and grief, most notably in McGovern's impassioned engagement with the devastation caused by the Hillsborough disaster and its aftermath. Combining detailed textual analysis with insights drawn from interviews with McGovern and producer Gub Neal, Duguid reveals how one of the angriest, toughest series of its time is also, paradoxically, one of the most compassionate.
Mark Duguid is a Senoir Curator of the BFI National Archive, and is the editor of, and a major contributor to BFI Screenonline, an online research and educational resource devoted to the history of film and television in Britain. He has contributed to Sight & Sound magazine and to the Encyclopedia of Television (2004).
Reviews
'Duguid's illuminating analysis of the programme also contains insights provided by interviews carried out with McGovern and fans of the show will find a great deal to enjoy here.' - The Crack Magazine
'Diguid does a splendid job of helping to re-establish Cracker at the centre of the television cannon...Such astute analysis is a welcome contribution to the BFI's TV Classics series.' - Sight & Sound
Contents
Introduction
1. The Who, the How and the Why
2. Fitz is a Four-Letter Word
3. Understanding and Condemning
4. Grief is Delicious
5. Faith of Our Fathers
6. Life After Death
Authors
MARK DUGUID is Editor and a major contributor to BFI Screenonline, an online research and educational resource devoted to the history of film and television in Britain. He has also contributed to Sight & Sound magazine and the Encyclopedia of Television.
Personal Statement
As an undergraduate, I studied Social and Cultural Studies, specialising in Psychology and Film, at Sheffield Hallam University, and had recently begun a module on TV Detective Fictions at the time Cracker began. The series naturally struck a chord for its combination of radical critique of the detective archetype and rich psychological detail. I subsequently wrote entries on Cracker for both Screenonline and The International Encyclopedia of Television (Newcombe (ed), 2004); I also wrote Screenonline's biography of Robbie Coltrane (see Annex for copies of all of these). My undergraduate dissertation, which was a decisive factor in my receiving a First Class Honours degree, was on representations of mental illness in cinema, and although I dedicated my further academic career to the study of film and television (I studied for an MA in Film and Television at Birkbeck College, under Laura Mulvey), I have not lost my interest in psychology.
I have edited Screenonline (www.screenonline.org.uk) since its inception in early 2003, helping to build what is now widely recognised as an extremely valuable resource, praised for the intelligence of its analysis and the quality and accessibility of its writing.
I have personally written around 140,000 words for the site, covering well over 100 films and television programmes. My specialisms have included British Hitchcock, Powell and Pressburger, Ealing Studios, TV satire and conspiracy dramas and the Armchair Theatre strand. Latterly, I have begun to focus more determinedly on television, and have recently been researching a collection on banned and/or politically controversial documentary.
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